COLLEGEVILLE It wasn’t very long ago that Trevor Warner was the new kid on the block in the St. John’s secondary.

Now, he finds himself the elder statesman.

Warner, who will be entering his junior season next fall, first broke into the starting lineup as a freshman in 2012 — starting five games at cornerback and finishing with three interceptions.

As a sophomore last fall, he started all 10 games and finished with 34 tackles, a team-best 11 pass breakups and an interception.

And with the Johnnies graduating all three of their other primary starting defensive backs from last season — safeties Darryl Williams and Nolan Lortz and cornerback Dylan Graves — that leaves Warner as the most experienced member of the secondary in practice this spring.

“I’m the most experienced guy now in terms of games started and that means I kind of have to take charge,” said the 6-foot, 180-pound Warner, a graduate of Vista Murrieta High School in Murrieta, Calif. “People are looking to me to play that role and I’m ready for that role. Physically and mentally, I feel equipped to handle it.”

But St. John’s is not devoid of experience at the other secondary spots. Freshman Garrett Ackerman started the final two games of last season in place of Lortz, who was lost to a season-ending injury. And he said getting that experience prepared him to perhaps take on an expanded role next fall.

“That was huge,” said Ackerman, a 6-foot, 200-pound graduate of Great Oak High School in Temecula, Calif, who finished with 15 tackles and an interception while appearing in eight games total last fall.

“Just to go through the experience of starting for the first time at the college level helped get some of the nerves out of the way and made me feel more confident that I can play with these guys.

“Even just the way I prepared for those last two games was different. Before the Hamline game, I was really nervous and there were jitters. But preparing for Bethel the next week, I was a lot more relaxed and business-like.”

Beyond Warner and Ackerman, there are a number of other returning players that head coach Gary Fasching said could contend for starting jobs come next season.

Among them are senior-to-be Andrew Norri, juniors-to-be Michael Callanan, Connor Scheffler and Sam Scoblic and sophomores-to-be Dylan Jackson, Lucas Glomb and Jeremy Piper. Norri saw action in all 10 games and finished with 16 tackles and an interception last season.

Glomb, Jackson and Callanan all saw limited action as well.

“We’ve got some guys who have been waiting their turn,” Fasching said. “We saw some of them at times last season and we saw some of them on JV. They’ve all been working hard this offseason and they’ve come into spring practice ready to go. So I’m encouraged by what I see there.”

But no matter who ends up where, Fasching said he will be looking to see continued improvement from the secondary, and the defense as a whole. The Johnnies finished last season with 28 turnovers forced, up from 21 the year before.

“We have a lot of guys who can run and a lot of guys who are athletic,” Fasching said. “And a lot of times, that’s a combination that’s going to lead to turnovers. So we need to keep getting those.

“But we also have to be a better tackling team, including in the secondary. That’s something we can’t really work on during the spring. But a lot of it is just about getting guys to the right spots.”

Williams was a vocal leader who finished with 45 tackles a year ago and had five of his team’s 15 interceptions. Lortz finished with 26 tackles and had three interceptions. And Graves had 47 tackles and eight pass breakups.

So Warner knows his team has some big shoes to fill.

“All of those guys have been really valuable for us the past two seasons,” Warner said. “Not only have they made a lot of play, but they’ve been real team leaders. They’re all people we’ve looked up to. So those are tough losses.”

But Warner feels good about the talent the Johnnies have coming back.

“We have a lot of talented guys who have been waiting for a shot,” Warner said. “Norri is experienced and other guys showed real flashes in the few games they were able to get in last season. It’s just going to be a matter of us all coming together and getting on the same page. And that’s the process we’re starting this spring.”